Michael Brown's Family To Pursue Further Legal Action, Their Attorney Says

Michael Brown’s family will pursue “every legal avenue” in order to find some justice after a Missouri grand jury declined to indict the white police officer who shot their black teenage son, the family’s attorney said over the weekend.

“The family greatly wanted to have the killer of their unarmed son held accountable,” lawyer Benjamin Crump said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.

Crump said the family was upset by the grand jury proceedings as well as police officer Darren Wilson’s assertion that his conscience was clear after the shooting.

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“They just feel that's just very cold,” he said. “His mother and father don't think Officer Wilson had any consideration for their child. And they wonder if he ever had a conscience. And so that's troubling to them. And we want police officers that do have a conscience in our community, not police officers that are as cold as ice and see our children as demons and criminals.”

Crump said the family is considering a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Wilson as well as pushing for a federal law that would require police officers to wear body cameras.

Crump insisted during the Sunday interview that it was the grand jury process itself that “needs to be indicted.” He said the system was partial to the police force because of its close ties to the prosecutor’s office, and asserted that a first year law student could have done a better job questioning Wilson.

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“Look at the way they questioned the people who came out and said Michael Brown did nothing wrong and it was the police officer’s fault compared to the people who supported the police officer,” Crump said. “And especially the shooter Darren Wilson. Look at how they let him testify for four hours and never cross-examined him.”

The lawyer’s remarks came in the wake of Wilson’s resignation from the Ferguson Police Department, which he tendered Saturday.

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said Wilson would not receive a severance package from the city. He also said during a Sunday press conference the city was increasing incentives to get black officers from within the community to join the police force.

“I think it’s best at this point that we continue to move on as a community,” Knowles said, according to The Guardian. “Officer Wilson and his family have moved on and at this point the city of Ferguson is again looking at how we can bring this community together.”